HB1190 - No more bicycle DUI's in South Dakota?

Yes, it does appear that due to a plethora (sic) of cycling and horseback riding DUI's in the State of South Dakota that they will more than likely pass a bill making it impossible to get a DUI on a bicycle or a horse. Some of the arguements are just retarded in my opinion ("I'd rather have a drunk cyclist hit me that a drunk motorist", "I don't want to see somebody go to the Penn for getting their 3rd DUI on a bike", etc) but maybe I'm just too hardcore. I need to lighten up in my old age.

The thing I wouldn't lighten up about, and neither would most cyclists in South Dakota, was the way that they was going to pass this bill. They were simply going to delete the line that stated that bicycles and horses are not vehicles. Being the right protecting citizens we are, we bombed them with emails and now they have quickly amended it where they are not vehicles for DUI purposes.

A snippet from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader read:
Bicyclists are worried that the measure will prevent them from riding on roads because it seeks to remove bikes from the legal definition of vehicles, said Rep. Tom Hennies, R-Rapid City. Lawmakers have been flooded with messages from bike riders in recent days, he said, asking the committee to change HB1190.

Legislators amended the measure, which goes now to the Senate floor, so that bikes and horses would continue to be classified as vehicles.

I do wonder if the fine Legislators from the State of South Dakota are now immortalized on the website http://www.dumblaws.com with the following writeup:

Driven to Drink

Posted by Danny Gallagher at 1:09 am on January 27, 2006

Some good news for you alcoholics in South Dakota, finally…

PIERRE, S.D. - Intoxicated South Dakotans should be able to ride horses or bikes home from bars without fear of being arrested for drunken driving, legislators decided Wednesday.

The House Transportation Committee voted 10-1 for a bill to exempt horses and bikes from the statutory definition of vehicles, sending HB1190 to the House floor.

I’m glad that someone is finally realizing the source of the problem behind accidents caused by drunken driving. It’s not the fact that the driver is drunk, it’s the fact that he’s driving a car. Take away the car, replace it with a bicycle and BOOM! problem solved. Next issue, exposed nipples on national TV….

Now they’re about to be allowed to ride bicycles or horses when they’re too blitzed to drive their bad-selves home. To quote a great man, the Roman philosopher Seneca once said, “Drunkenness is nothing but voluntary madness.” But to quote a jackass, Rep. Tom Hennies once said…

“We should not push people to stop driving when they’ve been drinking, and at the same time penalize them if they get on a bicycle when they’re drunk.”

We should NOT stop drunk people from driving? This is a state senator, folks, and might I add, a former police chief, who is supporting this bill. I would hope that he would at least include some kind of helmet requirement. On second thought, I hope not. Anyone who decides to ride a horse drunk doesn’t deserve to use the brain God gave them. Bottoms up.

I suppose that if this is the biggest bitch I have so far this year, I should still feel grateful that I live in South Dakota. Most people don't understand how we live here, we can't understand wanting to live anywhere else.